I am super excited to announce that I am challenging my painting practice a bit further this Fall with a 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge.

Trust me, it's not much easier to write than to say out loud. Needless to say, I am n-e-r-v-o-u-s!

A few off-the-bat reasons for my heightened nerves:

I'm getting married in 35 days. No need to say more.

This is the first time I am exposing my art notes and thoughts regarding each painting in a public domain.

Yeah sure, if you know me, this is all scary stuff. Why did I agree with myself to do this then?

Call me crazy, but I love challenges.

I believe challenges bring out the crazy in people. You really see how much someone is able to handle, and you experience some true emotions as they begin to surface from your psychosis. I really want to push the crazy out of my brain in the days before I walk down the aisle, and to expose my everyday as a woman about to get married in a world filled with distraction and hustle.

This leads me into my theme for this series (assuming my thoughts are stable over the next few days, which, let's be honest, will not be). In this challenge, I'm looking to build a bold body of work with these small paintings, really hoping to dive into a woman's world one month before she gets married. Most of the images will focus on a few objects I interact with on a daily basis over the next 30 days (planning this out was interesting as my days are typically pretty diverse), specifically calling to mind a sarcastic, humorous and ridiculous painting style that will leave you curious about how women really can do it all with so little time. I hope to take a feminist approach to this work, especially as they hang on a wall in chronological order. I will dive into additional details as the series progresses.

Reading the parenthesis in the previous paragraph, you'll just have to follow along on this crazy ride to find out more.

Surprises are dope. I hope to surprise myself on this journey through chaos, strength and love.

My new works will be painted on surfaces of pre-cut high quality square wooden panels of 8"x8" each. They are squarely cut pieces, blocky and not ready to hang in the slightest (prep is KEY). There are 30 of them scattered throughout my apartment, primed (3 hours of layer after layer after layer ftw) and ready to be adorned with oil mediums. Honestly, I would rather spend my time painting than making the panels or canvases themselves, so purchasing all of these panels was a huge time saver even though it took a bit of time to properly prime each bebe! Winning before even beginning.

Let's talk about the medium for a second. I will be painting every single one of these 30 bad cuties with oil paint. I figured this would bring out the boldest of colors, and I love the classic, prime look to them. They allow me to spread paint very easily, moving colors across the surface in smooth strokes. AND, to make matters even more interesting, I'm only giving myself 2 hours per day to whip out a decent oil painting ready for show. I can already see this being a huge challenge in itself, as I rarely work on an oil painting in one sitting. Alla prima all day every day! Like I said, I love challenges. (cue nerves)

Finally, what are my limits and goals? Simply said, my goals are to finish an oil painting every day for 30 days in 2 hours each sitting, to further my practice in the studio as an oil painter, and to share my message with the world that females are crazy hustlers who live for challenges and still manage to get everything done with grace and glorious pride. (this last message to possibly change throughout the 30 days; I was inspired to write that sentence, so I'm going to leave it there and beautifully fester. Stay tuned!).

I hope that my method, medium, surface and story really resonate through this challenge. I'm pumped to begin and I can't wait to share my progress with all of you.